Fas advertising

I've been meaning to write about this for a while - the ads, on bus-stops and in newspapers, for the FAS Opportunities fair at Croke Park (not an historic occassion for opps fairs, I should add).

Anyway, the young lady enclosed, despite the obvious, is interesting for another reason. FAS for most people means apprenticeships. Trades. And so on.

When was the last time you saw a tradesperson (like that?) such as this well-groomed dame? Doubtless if mechanics looked like her I'd burn out my clutch every week. Of course they don't - so why use her to promote their fair? Attractive women attract young men to things, that should be clear enough if you look at all the TOP MODELS who strip to their knickers to promote everything from road safety to hair loss.

But there's more to it, I think. Media tend to use cleaner cut versions of particulars to highlight general trends. Take the Ryan Tubridy radion show. When they want to ask kids things, they always go to fancy fee-paying schools - hardly representative of Ireland's yuff. Or if they go to a school in town, they dress it up in some ironic presenter/reporter banter, pale, annoying Anto O'Carroller-Kellyer stuff. I might be wrong but it looks like middle class bias in the media.